emancipation of its slaves. It is reported that Granger's men marched through Galveston reading General Order No. 3 first at Union Army Headquarters at the Osterman Building (formerly at the location of Strand Street and 22nd Street, since demolished), the 1861 Custom House and courthouse before marching to the Negro Church on Broadway, since renamed Reedy Chapel-AME Church. The order informed all Texans that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves were free. Although many claims have been made to Ashton Villa's central role in the original 1865 pronouncement, no extant historical evidence supports such assertions. On June 21, 2014, the Galveston Historical Foundation and Texas Historical Commission erected a Juneteenth plaque where the Osterman Building once stood signifying the location of Major General Granger's Union Headquarters and subsequent issuance of General Order No. 3. On June 19, 2006, a statue of Al Edwards, named "Unknown Legislator" was dedicated on the grounds of Ashton Villa during the annual prayer breakfast and celebration begun by Edwards in 1979, and hosted annually on the grounds of Ashton Villa every Juneteenth. The 9-foot tall statue of the Democratic State Representative from Houston, originally intended for the state capitol grounds in Austin, Texas is depicted holding up the piece of 1979 legislation making Juneteenth a paid Texas State holiday. The proclamatory pose of the statue evokes the very proclamation the holiday is meant to honor. Edwards' annual prayer breakfast and celebration, first held in 1979, take place every Juneteenth at Ashton Villa and include a reading of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation and 1865 General Order No. 3 (with a local historian portraying Major General Granger addressing the crowd from the home's balcony).,. Despite Edwards' death from natural causes on April 29, 2020, the prayer breakfast and memorial celebration at Ashton Villa continued with the late legislator's son, Jason Edwards, speaking in his place. Juneteenth June 19 has since become known as Juneteenth, a portmanteau of the words June and nineteenth. Former slaves in Galveston rejoiced in the streets with jubilant celebrations. Juneteenth celebrations began in Texas the following year. Across many parts of Texas, freed people pooled their funds to purchase land specifically for their communities' increasingly large Juneteenth gatherings — including Houston's Emancipation Park, Mexia's Booker T. Washington Park, and Emancipation Park in Austin. 1900 storm Brown died in 1895, just five years before the 1900